


An End, Once and for All

by vvorlock



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Established Relationship, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Klance Week 2016, M/M, Trans Female Pidge | Katie Holt, lance pov, will add tags as i add chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 11:49:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7683382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vvorlock/pseuds/vvorlock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Holts discovered a dark secret, one the Empire had done its best to keep quiet. Their disappearances did not go unnoticed. It was time to take a stand. The world deserved to know what was happening behind closed doors as Zarkon claimed territory after territory, accelerating the world closer and closer to total destruction. </p><p>Sometimes it just takes a little love to hate.</p><p>--</p><p>Entire cast will eventually be featured, including Sam & Matt Holt. Prompt was Klance week day 2: Love/Hate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An End, Once and for All

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on my phone on an airplane while blasting [this album](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34thwBLMe4g&index=3&list=PLLKkNRrB47lnJoeTFpRowbycabxFiGaWU). Aka listen to this while you read if possible. 
> 
> Whoops sorry for starting a new fic instead of updating my in progress one. Thanks to [Apex-Disaster](http://Apex-Disaster.tumblr.com/) for proofreading me during the flight! I like using both prompts at the same time more than picking just one.
> 
> [Klance Week 2016 Day 2: Love/Hate](http://klanceweek.tumblr.com/)

Wind bit into Lance’s chest through his thin exo suit. The roar of the cycle under him, the lights of the city passing by rapidly, and the warmth under his palms where his hands held onto Keith’s waist, every sensation was acute and pulsing under his skin.

He leaned in tandem with the other boy as they hugged a tight corner on the steep concrete highway, legs almost brushing the deadly pavement below. He could barely hear the sirens behind them past the pounding heart beat in his ears.

“We’re coming up on your drop point.” Keith spoke sharply into the ear piece he wore inside of his full helmet. Lance reflexively tightened his grip on the bulletproof road leathers the other was wrapped up in. A warm hand was placed on top of Lance’s cold ones. They didn’t need to speak for the gesture to comfort him.

Shots range out and Lance winced as his nerves told him they were closer to their skin than he liked to hope. The tunnel was coming up, and Lance’s anxiety peaked. The only reason they had not been hit by the military yet was because of the shroud of night combined with the occasional blinding street light passing over them. But the tiled tunnel beneath one of the city’s many over passes was fully light, bathed in copper and red light that would give their pursuance a much needed clear shot.

“Tunnel A in three,” Lance shouted into his ear piece, frantically zipping his wetsuit shut over his thinner bulletproof exo skin and sealing off his helmet’s visor. “Pidge get those lights out.”

“Fuck off I’m trying!” A voice snapped at the two through their ear pieces.

“Two!” Keith announced, at her. Lance could feel Keith’s tense muscles under where his arm was holding them together on the bike, which was currently topping almost 110 miles per hour. Lance stole the moment, leaning in and pressing himself into his partner’s back. The warmth between them was reminiscent of the past night, and time slowed for an instant. They both knew how dangerous this was. One wrong step and neither would live to finally admit the words they’d been dancing around for years. Both equally, and unbeknownst to each other, stubbornly refusing to mess that up.

The light from the tunnel hit them like a freighter, so stunning it caused Keith to waver slightly. Lance sat up and looked back. Seven armored squad cars were in pursuit, red and gold lights flashing off their roofs and reflecting on the rain slicked ground. A sharp roar cut through the din of the sirens and vehicles in the passage. A light cycle.

“Shit!” Lance reached for the small gun strapped to his thigh and slipped it out to fire shots back at the approaching military. If he could hit one and cause an accident, the light cycle couldn’t get though and catch up to them. Damn horrifying technology, light cycles ran off pure Quintessence and almost certainly meant that the bike Keith had modified with their mechanic wouldn’t be able to put pace it.

“I heard it! Pidge get those lights out before we die because you couldn’t rewire a damn control box!” Keith snapped, his teeth gritting as he leaned down over his handles and floored it.

“Keith! Slow the hell down! I can’t make the jump at anything over 90!” Lance shouted. He didn’t need to, but the adrenaline was tearing him apart.

On cue, the lights in the tunnel cut out. The darkness returned, and Lance could breathe again. The tunnel was a couple miles long, running under the main canal that cut through Altea City. The canal that had the best covered access into the military’s high command building and weapons facility. The bridge was the perfect place to get into the water unseen.

Lance had gone over every detail of the plan for weeks, committing it all to memory. The dark case strapped to his back held the rifle he’d need later. Keith was to take him through the tunnel, Pidge would cut the lights and then restore them just as they left, effectively blinding the Galran androids that would have taken the bait and followed them across the city away from the rest of the team’s infiltration point for the Transportation Administration building. Where Pidge was currently swearing and orchestrating disasters and malfunctions across the city with just her fingers.

The bridge had no lights along the railings, and the drop to the water was short, as the tunnel was almost even with the surface as it opened to the sky. At exactly 90 miles per hour, Keith would pulls along the railing as the android’s photoreceptors were restoring and Lance would-

“Tunnel exit in six!” Keith’s voice called Lance back. No more rehearsals, this was the real thing. Millions were counting on them, and didn’t even know it.

“Five,” Lance turned around carefully on the bike, leaning into the support of Keith’s back. He took a deep breath.

“Four,” Lance closed his eyes for a moment and raised the pistol in his hand.

“Three,” His eyes snapped open and he took the first three shots he saw. A glint of an android’s visor in the car directly behind them, a tire on a far car driving along the wall of the tunnel, and-

“Two,” The light cycle burst through the row of blaring lights, a rich golden hue lighting sharp lines on the black machine. Sleek, powerful, terrifying, and absolutely despicable. A machine built for urban warfare that ran on the lives of the citizens it falsely claimed to protect and value. Lance fired at the rider, nicking their helmet.

“One,” Lance replaced the gun on his thigh in an instant, fluid motion, sneering at the monsters behind them. The driver he hit swerved hard into the middle of the tunnel, colliding with the others and taking them out. The car on the far side reared and caught its tire up on the small service walkway. In a moment, it was torn from the ground and up along the tunnel. It crashed back down into the last remaining car with a bright explosion. The stranger on the light cycle didn’t even pause to look back, accelerating instead.

Cold wind slammed into Lance’s back as they breached the tunnel’s exit. The lights returned, as planned, and Lance snapped his eyes shut to preserve his adjusted night vision. Their motorcycle pulled alongside the railing, the light cycle was not far behind by the sound of it’s shrill engines.

“JUMP!” Keith yelled, his tone not angry, but filled with urgency. And Lance did. He extended his legs, leaping clear of the red and black motorcycle. He opened his eyes again and watched, adrenaline slowing the world, as he cleared the concrete siding of the highway.

_60 feet until impact._

Lance slapped the sealing mechanism on the side of his helmet before quickly tightening into his foot first dive. The water came hard and fast, assaulting his every sense as the darkness cut off all light from the skyline above. His descent slowed and he looked back up toward the surface. Bubbles left behind from his impact trailed along the dark water like stars. The city lights danced on the surface of the canal, a warped reflection that looked like the old sky, before light pollution.

“Did you make it?” Keith’s voice came through Lance’s ear piece. He sounded upset.

“Of course.”

“Don’t gloat yet, get to the drainage system, your job has only just started.” A smile broke out across Lance’s features.

“I’m not.” He adjusted the case strapped to his back and began to swim along the floor of the canal. A small map glowed along the inside of his visor, guiding him to the target. “How’s the light cycle?”

“Gone. I think I lost them. I’ll keep going just in case.”

“All right. Thirty minutes of air beginning now, I’m going silent to preserve it. Pidge-”

“What? I’m busy. You’re not the only one who needs me to manipulate this damn city to get them around to their jobs.”

“I was going to thank you!”

“I thought you said you were about to shut up for once.” Lance scowled, but the small chime from Keith’s laughter made his heart somersault. He listened quietly as his teammates kept small talk, probably to keep Pidge calm as she worked her god damn miracles on the city’s defenses and infrastructure.

The water was frigid, and seeping into Lance’s bones as he made his way across the canal floor. Loose concrete, cracks, and rocks helped to push him along. The quieter he was, the better. Which meant no talking, little to no water disturbances, and no mechanical equipment to help him move.

There was something exhilarating about having to stay so quiet while moving in the dark. Sure, stealth and infiltration was usually Pidge’s job but her computing know-how was far more vital to the plan. A full on coup d'état took a lot of effort on all sides.

Lance hated the jumping part of the plan, but it far over shadowed the shitty things Shiro was forced to as his contribution. A jailbreak that required arrest. A crime at just the right time and place of just the right severity to get sent to the correct lock up without being sent straight to a firing squad. Lance, hell the entire damn team, feared how their friend’s trauma was handling reliving the past so closely.

Lance didn’t even have the second worst job on the team. That title belonged to Allura and Coran. Lance frowned and shook his head slightly just thinking about the two of them, forced to publicly make nice with the the man responsible for the genocide of their people, their culture, their home. They would be trapped, dressed up like the Imperial ambassadors around them. The very snakes who claimed the culling of an entire world was necessary, even convenient for them. No, Lance’s job was cake compared to that.

A shape in the side of the canal told Lance he had reached the spillway entrance into the fountain system for the high command’s courtyard. A small concrete protrusion into the canal was covered by a fine wire mesh that was controlled remotely to occasionally open and let the collected debris flush out into the canal.

“3 minutes of oxygen and I’m at the grate.” Lance hummed into the comm as he wove fingers into the mesh and pulled himself upright in front of the entrance.

“You talked too much, you’re going to be almost a minute short of your best practice time.” Pidge warned him, her voice quietly laced with genuine concern as she began to open the mesh.

“I’ll just hold my breath at the end. I’ll let you all know when I’m in and have visual.” Lance forced himself to seem a bit more confident than he felt. A whole minute short? He should have ten minutes worth of air right now.

“Good luck.” Keith stated it, as he usually did. In such a way that he demanded you to do well instead of wishing you support. The gate opened with a soft whirring sound and Lance crawled in, still completely submerged.

Inside, the space wasn’t much larger than his broad shoulders, which occasionally got caught on the rough concrete. Lance took shallower breaths as he pulled himself along the cramped passageway. He couldn’t turn on a light in here, but the replica Coran and Hunk had built at the warehouse was identical, and Lance knew every twist and turn at this point.

Pidge had been right about the oxygen, sadly. Lance felt himself getting light headed and he still had an entire third of the tunnel to get through, and silently at that. If he burst through and bobbed to the surface too fast, he’d set of motion sensors around the gardens. All in all, he’d need about two minutes to do it, and only 53 seconds of air left.

Frustrated and determined, he took one last deep breath and released some of the exhaust from his helmet. Hand over hand, he made his way through the tunnel. The closer the end was, the more his lungs aches and his face burned. The walls felt like they were closing in, catching his arms more and more, slowing him as his suit began to beep in warning of over expended oxygen reserves.

In agony, Lance finally pulled himself free of the tunnel and swam to the surface. The second his helmet broke through, his visor opened. His gasping and coughing was loud enough to travel over the comma and instantly Keith was I his ear again.

“Lance- you good?”

“Ha, y-yeah I’m up. Getting out now.” He quickly checked the countdown on his display. 3:10 exactly. His best time getting through to date.

Smug, he decided telling Pidge could wait until after they overthrow an evil empire. The dark water of the fountain pond was enough for Lance to blend in and move unseen across half of the courtyard gardens toward a large oak. He slipped out of the water slowly and made his way, crouched, to the tree and began to climb. Once he pulled himself onto the thickest branch available, he glanced toward the large glass wall that separates the garden from the main ballroom of the high command. Hundreds of ambassadors, Coran and Allura among them, milled about a vast room lit with chandeliers that ran on Quintessence. At the head of the room was what could only be described as a throne.

Lance kept his eyes glued to the monster that sat there, wine in hand and chatting calmly with an advisor while he cracked open the black case he brought and methodically pieced together the sniper rifle Hunk custom made for him. Lightweight, collapsible, and minimal recoil. Lance settled into the tree and steadied his aim, sights locked onto the Emperor’s forehead.

“All right. I’m in position, visual on King, none on the Bishop or Tower yet.”

“Ten minutes until the Rook’s move.” Pidge sounded. “Pawn in position, ready to King.”

“Pawn in position, ready to King.” Lance responded softly. Close range signal interception was a real threat, and being so close meant they needed to switch up the language to try and avoid giving away much, if caught.

“Hey- Queen, you there? Ready to-”

“He’s back. Change of plans. Give me more time to reroute, I need to lose my tail again.” Keith sounded strained, and Lance knew why immediately. The light cycle had found him again.

“You have five minutes at the most before you need to be here.” Pidge sounded about as tense as Lance felt. “Good luck.”

**Author's Note:**

> I promise to update my other fic soon too fuck


End file.
